was the "do some research" supposed to be a link for making alfalfa tea? No it was not. There are no links to making alfalfa tea. That's why I'm asking the question, "Where do you get these ideas?" The link I provided was to a website where compost tea is promoted. Compost tea has something of value in it but only when it is made properly. If you read about compost tea and learn how to make it correctly, you'll likely learn about the problems in your recipe for alfalfa tea. It is scientifically impossible to make anything but slime water using the methods posted in this thread. dchall thats just plain STUPID to say have you tried this and it killed all your plants? I'll leave the intelligence of what I say up to the reader. If that's what you believe, fine. I have not tried it because I have read about the method from scientists that I trust. I never said it would kill all your plants. I am more concerned with it killing people but I don't want to sound sensational about it. The probability of someone dying from alfalfa tea poisoning is pretty remote. This method of getting nitrogen into the soil works fine for me and everybody else When you say it works fine, that probably means everything seemed fine because the plants got greener and became more healthy. That is because alfalfa is a source of protein for the soil microbes. You could have applied dry alfalfa pellets at a rate of 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and achieved the same result with much less hassle. About every other year I switch from fertilizing with ordinary corn meal to fertilizing with alfalfa pellets. They're great! I'm saying the brewing process being promoted here is not a good one. There is a LOT of flexibility in nature that prevents diseases from taking hold. Going back into history and to the present day, fresh raw sewage is still used to fertilize farms and gardens. You can easily say that nobody you know has ever been harmed by that practice. Even if you lived in China where the farmer's outhouses drain directly into the soil, they probably don't know anyone who has died from the practice. Does that make it healthy or the right thing to do? Not at all. Once the cholera bug enters the picture, everyone associated with the practice dies and there is nobody left to remember them. I'm not saying alfalfa tea leads to cholera; I'm just trying to make an analogy. Any time you put something in water, especially warm water, you are going to have bacteria growing in it. The warmer the water the faster the oxygen becomes depleted. Once the oxygen is gone, the bacteria that were growing in it die and another type of bacteria start to grow. Among these bacteria are those that cause disease. Once that happens, you have no control over the "brew." Fermentation of the mix is the best outcome, but the other end of the spectrum is that you start breeding the more dangerous bacteria that live in your intestines. The Soilfoodweb.com website has changed their format. Here's a slightly better link. Read the e-zines back from the beginning to learn more. Then search the Internet for "actively aerated compost tea" with the quotes. The purpose of this is to expose the problems with the alfalfa tea brewing method y'all are using. If all you were doing was dumping alfalfa into a bucket of cold water and immediately pouring it onto the plants, I'm all for that. Letting it sit and develop pathogenic bacteria is my problem.

Otis... Hey buddy, revived this thread did you? I've been meaning to eventually update with my current thoughts based upon more recent observations/experiences but somehow I can't quite seem to find the time with all the different things I have going now that its summer (well, almost summer). However your posting causes me to pause and make some time (a good thing)... not for the all the things I want to write about but rather just long enough to answer your posting. Hope things have been okay with you (and the worms). The Koi are doing excellent... probably the easiest transition from winter to spring ever. I'm in Michigan and our winter this year was amazingly mild, so I was able to start the pond pumps (and filters) two months earlier than I normally do. I think this made the difference, really. Did you bother to powder up those pellets? I don't know if that helps or not, it just happens to be the only way I've done it. Fishy smell? I guess everywhere must be different as they must formulate the mash with whatever's economically available in the locality or region. Do you live near the water? I assume they start with a target nutritional profile and a target price point to meet and then begin searching for bulk source ingredients to create their mash. I don't do it anymore but for a while I was adding fish emulsion (sold as plant fertilizer) to the worm food and I guess the worms loved it but it was stinky to mess with and probably not as economical as applying it directly to the plants. Originally my thoughts were to have it pass through the worms first and let them take whatever nutrition they need and what comes out the other end would be very slow release but I got to thinking about it and fish emulsion is slow releasing to being with as it requires soil microbes to break it down before the plants can utilize it so I guess feeding to the worms first just made it sort of redundant. So how do your worms like it? Have you been feeding it long enough to notice any differences in the worms? Hopefully you'll notice a positive effect on their castings when you harvest it and your plants then use it. I harvested the bins before splitting them so they weren't full... before harvesting I would say better than 3/4 full (about 12" perhaps). The population of worms (of all sizes, in all stages) was prodigious in relation to what I started with and I easily have enough to justify the splitting. Was it the nutrition of the feed or something else? I don't not know... but I suspect the high calorie content plus high-protein had something to do with it. Since I have each pair of bins is two locations, I've been quite surprised as to just how much activity levels are affected by the internal bin temperatures. The basement bins could already be harvested now while the bins in the garage really need another month or perhaps longer. Though I've had few occasions to pick-up a fully loaded bin... yes, it is quite heavy, especially with all the moisture the castings do hold. The bins haven't cracked nor do I actually expect them to. They are not exposed to UV (as in sunlight) and since they are made from HDPE, they will not contain plasticizers that can migrate out over time. (In case you're wondering, I've taught properties of polymer materials for over 30 years now, among other aspects of plastics processing... that's how I know this stuff about various plastics families, formulation additives and the associated properties.) I've recently ordered 2 pounds of African nightcrawlers (apparently there is a backlog as I've been waiting 2 weeks now and they still haven't shipped yet) so soon I will be preparing yet another bin... perhaps I should take a picture of exactly how I prepare the bins with the holes. A picture really is worth a thousand words in my case as I tend to be quite verbose in my explanations. The hole was make with 1" drill bit though I do have hole bits up to 4" laying around here. The size of the hole is not really important because of the way I construct my bins. In a few days, I will prepare a new bin and post a pic or two to show how I construct my bins and you will quickly understand why I'm saying the actual hole size doesn't really affect the structural integrity of the bin. How wet? I've not seen any leachate coming out since back in early January, shortly after I started this thread so... moisture moves down through castings, meaning the closer you get to the bottom the wetter the castings. When I screened the VC I didn't have any issues with clumps holding together... the castings easily separated once on the screen. I think if I'd tried to harvest too soon (meaning a smaller percentage of the VC was actual castings) then I suspect the clumps would have presented more of an issue. Interestingly, I have one 6 gallon bucket sitting in the garage right now that is still moist even though I've not added any moisture to it... vermicompost has just amazing water holding capacity... that is one major observation of mine that has really surprised me. I'm thinking it is a large part of the secret of why adding VC to the garden or potting soil seems to make such a huge difference in the plants grown in it. Okay Otis, that's it for now but I will be back.

So I really don't mean to be rude. I am sorry if it comes across that way, it is not my intention. I'm new to the forums also but I would like to provide some observations. 1. You are prolific in your thread postings. Many of the same questions are asked in different threads. What I have noticed is that people here really don't pay attention to "who" you are, they just respond to postings. Multiple posts will get you multiple responses all with differing information if you present the questions differently. **This isn't to say you are getting bad information. You are just differing methods, schedules, etc. Combining all that may not get the best results & may throw off the folks who are providing recommendations. Especially when you start a new thread & they don't notice who you are. 2. Choose a path & follow it. When suggestions are made for things like a lab test, the folks who can help you really need that info to make the best recommendations. Choose who you want to be your primary information source(s), then "stalk" them. Read their post to different people and follow their instructions. I have personally found about 7-8 people that I "stalk." I have read back years on some of them, found some on other forums, blogs, etc. I routinely find the answers to my questions in that process. I have made myself a resource sheet with links to those resource for future reference. I would suggest that you make 1 main thread & keep the bulk of your questions, pictures, etc there. It makes it very easy to follow. It would also help if you linked your other threads to your main thread if you really want people to go to the other threads & look at stuff. Get your logan lab sample sent & results posted. That really help figure out what may be helping or hurting your lawn. There also has to be a lot of patience involved. This is long term stuff. I'm personally looking at 3-5 yrs down the road on my project. You are building soil, creating an environment where your lawn prosper, it takes time. Some of the folks here offering help/advice have documented their journeys going back almost 10 yrs. Did you apply 3 different weed killers in the past 2 wks? Can you link the stuff you applied? If you could bullet point a list with dates & actions of yard routine this year that could be very helpful. I see some thin spots. Are these pictures here the same spots as on the other threads? If so, I see lots of filling in/increased thickness/greening up. Watching grass grow is like "watching grass grow." If you have patches of weeds that you are killing, those areas will thin & may become bare. A lawn can look full, but be full of weeds. Once the weeds are dead the grass needs time to fill in that empty space. That process can take a full growing season or more, unless you have an excellent growing environment.

Here's a random observation for the morning...I only took 2 cuttings this fall to try and root over the winter and both appear to have taken. After reading one of the other threads about biochar I took a handful of small chunks of burnt pine from the fireplace and mixed that into the soil when I planted them. That is the only new difference from all my other failed cuttings (I do not have a good success rate! These are #4 and #5 out of hundreds of attempts). It may or may not be what made them both work, but I thought it was interesting to note.